Devon child forced to wait 61 weeks for mental health support

Devon's deepening mental health support crisis has seen the county named the worst in the South West for the length of time for children have to wait for a first appointment with mental health services. The longest wait for a child referred to Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT) as of the end of April 2024 was 427 days - 61 weeks.

This year, more than 6,000 children have been referred to the trust for mental health support, with 1,460 on the waiting list as of September. Data obtained by Medical Negligence Assist via Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests to all NHS Mental Health Trusts found that children face an average waiting time of 13 weeks from referral to a first appointment at DPT - more than double the national average of five weeks.

DPT has apologised for the long waits, which it says is a nationwide issue, and has blamed an increase in the numbers of referrals and recruitment issues for the backlog.

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The FOI data obtained from DPT confirmed during 2024, 6,151 children have been referred to the trust, up from 5,326 in 2020 but down from 7,327 in 2023. The latest NHS figures show that child mental health referrals have now topped one million for the third year in a row.

A spokesperson for Children and Family Health Devon said: “We know how distressing it can be for young people and their families to wait for an appointment and we are sorry that we are currently unable to see people more quickly. We have a fantastic team of staff who want to offer the best possible care for the people they support and the last thing any of us wants is for people to be waiting longer than necessary.

“The challenges that we are facing are mirrored across the country and we are doing everything possible to address the situation. Demand for children’s services has been growing steadily and, in particular, we have seen sustained increases in demand since the pandemic in some specific areas, for example eating disorders. We are also seeing more people with complex needs.

"In addition, we have struggled to recruit to many key posts across our service and our vacancy rate has been between 25 per cent and 35 per cent over the past few years.

“We do everything we can to support people while they are waiting. Everyone referred to our service is screened and triaged by an experienced mental health clinician who will prioritise cases according to people’s risk and need. This includes offering urgent appointments within seven days, less urgent appointments within eight weeks and routine appointments within 18 weeks.

“We also have a CAMHS crisis team who are operational 9am to 10pm, seven days a week and, outside these times, the First Response Service will respond to enquiries. Children, young people and families can also access NHS 111 if they feel they need urgent mental health support and advice and we offer signposting to relevant resources, voluntary services and advice to everyone who is referred.

“Despite these pressures and challenges, we are making important headway in some areas. Our Mental Health in Schools Teams, for example, are now providing vital care and support in around 70 per cent of secondary schools and colleges across the county – a significant increase on where we were a few years ago.”

The growing mental health crisis among children in the UK has been linked to a number of factors including the effects of the Covid pandemic, rising poverty levels and the powerful influence of social media and cyberbullying.

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza said she was ‘horrified’ by the national figures.

In a statement in September this year, she said: “I was horrified to see the latest NHS Statistics… For children and young people, each year is a significant portion of their young lives, so we need a fresh approach that intervenes much earlier to prevent children from reaching crisis point.”

She added: “It is shocking to see so many children being referred to mental health services because they have reached crisis point. Many problems we see in children’s mental health services stem from local and national leaders failing to prioritise children’s mental health. We need fresh, long-term thinking when it comes to children’s mental and emotional health and wellbeing."